Lleyton Hewitt bowed out of the Montreal Masters on Friday with a 6-3 6-4 quarter-final loss to world No.1 Roger Federer.

Defending champion Federer was close to his fluent best, hitting 13 aces as he swept into the last four where he will play unseeded Czech Radek Stepanek, who upset fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko 6-4 7-5.

One break, in the sixth game, gave Federer the first set but Hewitt gave himself a glimmer of hope when he recovered an early break in the second to level at 2-2.

But Federer pressured the Australian into a forehand error in the seventh game to move ahead again and held on to win the quarter-final.

World No.60 Stepanek, who beat Fernando Gonzalez and Tommy Haas on his way to the last eight, broke Davydenko in the fifth game and held the advantage to take the opening set.

The Czech broke again in the fifth game of the second but faltered when serving for the match at 5-4, allowing Davydenko to level.

The respite was only brief for the Russian, though, as he was broken in the next game and Stepanek served out for victory, finishing the match with his ninth ace.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP